


Burning House

by iranoutofstars



Category: Legacies (TV 2018)
Genre: Angst with a Happy Ending, F/F, Internal Conflict
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-26
Updated: 2019-03-30
Packaged: 2019-12-18 03:33:43
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 5,706
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18241538
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/iranoutofstars/pseuds/iranoutofstars
Summary: It all happened so suddenly. Josie didn't even know how, everything was fine and then the school was burning. How could it happen so fast?Josie didn't realize what she was doing until she felt the heat of the fire on her skin. All she knew was that Penelope was stuck inside and there was no way she was leaving her alone.Story based on "Burning house" by Cam.





	1. And the two of us went up in smoke

"Did everyone make it out?" A voice shouted behind her. "Does anyone know if the school is empty?" Alaric demanded again.

Josie couldn't tear her eyes from the blazing, blinding flames that were enveloping the school.

Her face dirty. Her hair messy. Mouth slightly agape in shock. How did this happen?

"Penelope Park is missing." She heard someone else say and her head whipped towards the person who had just named her ex girlfriend.

"What?!" She asked. It only took one word for her to snap out of her trance.

"Somebody said they heard a crash in her room as they were running out." Emma added with a regretful expression on her face, but Josie couldn't hear anything else. She wasn't even sure her mind was working properly, or maybe it wasn't working at all as she started to run back towards the school.

"Josie!" Her father yelled, but it was too late, she could already feel the heat of the fire emanating from the walls.

The young witch put her arm up to cover her face as she run as fast as she could through the little space that had yet to be devoured by the fire. She didn't dwell on how lucky it was that the stairs were still standing, she couldn't be bothered by the amount of sweat that was covering her skin due to the incredible heat, all she could think about was Penelope. Penelope being stuck in her room. Penelope in danger with no one by her side. Her legs moved faster and faster.

The brightness of the flames was almost blinding, fortunately, Josie didn't need to see to know where she was going.

The journey to Penelope's room felt endless and quick at the same time and the brunette almost couldn't believe she had made it mostly unscathed.

She put her hand on the handle, but retracted it immediately, hissing in pain. Of course it would be blazing hot, what kind of idiot wouldn't figure that out?

She waved her hand quickly, hoping to make the pain go away as she kicked the door to open it. In movies it seemed so easy to knock down a door, but there, surrounded by the flames, her heart pounding in her chest and her eyes struggling to stay open, it wasn't so effortless.

It took her a couple of tries for the door to cave in and a gush of flames pushed her inside the scorched room.  
The air was even heavier inside the small confinement than it was in the hallway and Josie coughed, due to the smoke getting in her lungs.

Her eyes were watery and she could barely see a thing other than the orange, hot flames surrounding her.  
"Penelope!" She tried to yell, her voice croaked, the booming of the fire was covering every other noise. "Penelope!" She yelled again hoarsely, her throat was completely dry, it felt like sandpaper.

She looked around, trying to locate her ex girlfriend.

"Penelope!" She shouted once more, hoping the other girl could hear her somehow, hoping it wasn't too late.  
Josie finally spotted a mass on the floor, not too far from what used to be the bed and now it was nothing more than fire wood.

"Penelope, please, please!" She muttered running towards the silhouette, her eyes started to prickle for a completely different reason other than the smoke. The raven-haired was lying on the floor, her legs pinned under debris from the collapsed ceiling.

"No, no, please." She said again kneeling next to her and taking a hold of her head to protect it.

"Jojo, what are you doing here?" The girl asked weakly. "Am I dreaming? Am I dead?" She asked confused, eyes half closed, as if the simple task of keeping them open required too much strength.

"No, no, don't say that, I'm gonna get you out." Josie replied as she looked around, trying to find a way to get them both to safety.

"I think I'm stuck, Jojo," the witch said trying to raise her head to look at her feet, but failing. "It's hot in here." She added after a second.

The brunette could see how much she was struggling just to utter those simple words, there was no way she could siphon magic from her without killing her. She was just too weak and she couldn't siphon magic from the burning house either.

"I'm afraid," Penelope confessed, blinking back the tears. "I'm gonna die alone here, aren't I?" She asked.

Josie stopped her thinking for a second, looking at the vulnerability in the other girl's eyes. She could see that she was barely conscious, but the reality had finally hit her and Josie's heart was breaking all over again.

"No, no, we're gonna get out of here, don't worry." She replied, although she wasn't all too convinced about that anymore.

"Josie, I'm so sorry, I never meant to hurt you. When I-" the girl tried to say.

"No, ssh, don't talk like that. I'm not letting you say goodbye now." The brunette cut her off.

"You have to go. Get out of here before it's too late."

"I'm not leaving you alone." The twin said stubbornly.

"Josie, don't be stupid, you can still get out." The raven-haired said again more forcefully, but she could feel herself starting to slip into unconsciousness.

Josie laid beside her and pulled her closer.

"I'm not leaving you alone." She said again through tears in ber eyes.

No matter how much her head was shouting at her to run out of the school and get to safety as fast as she could, no matter how hot the room was getting or how her skin was sizzling due to the flames, or how her lungs were drowning in smoke inside her chest, she couldn't leave the other witch's side. She just couldn't bring herself to, so she did a little spell with the tiniest bit of magic she could siphon from Penelope and she put the both of them to sleep, cuddling against the other girl, finding refuge and peace in having the other body so close to her own for one more time.

One last time before the two of them went up in smoke.

  
\--*--

  
Josie woke up panting and covered in sweat. It took her a couple of seconds to realize that she was back in her dorm. The room was dark and cool, much different than in the dream.

She could still feel the heat grazing her skin. She could still smell the pungent odore of smoke and her eyes were still blinded by the brightness of the fire. But most of all, her mind had trouble catching up to the realization that it had all been just a dream.

Josie looked around, her heartbeat slowed down as she took in the familiarity of her room. Her sister was sleeping peacefully in the bed next to hers. The clock was displaying "2:30" in glaring, red numbers and everything felt normal, except for the turmoil inside her.

She quickly realized that there was no way she could go back to sleep in that state, her mind was overloaded with bright images from the nightmare and her heart was thumping loudly in her ears, heavy with the worry she felt in the dream and light with the relief that it wasn't reality.

She didn't even realize she got out of bed until she saw her hand knock on an all too familiar door. It was like she had been on autopilot. She remembered too late that it was the middle of the night and waking someone up just because she had a nightmare was incredibly rude and very childish, but it was too late.

The damage was done and she couldn't run away anymore.

Before she could hope that her knocking had gone unheard and go back to her room, the door opened and Josie was surprised to see that the girl didn't seem bothered by the late visit in the slightest.


	2. Candles are burning low

"Josie?" The raven-haired asked confused and the brunette mentally slapped herself. What was she thinking?

"Oh, hey Penelope. I was just... Ehm..." She stammered, trying to think of a good excuse. "I just came for a check up, you know, I take my duties as witch representative very seriously..." She said quickly, opting for a half truth. "You don't have any candles on, do you?"

The raven-haired frowned deeply.

"You though I was performing dark magic?" She asked taking a sip from the cup she held in her hand. Josie couldn't decipher her expression. Was she offended at the thought? Bewildered? Relieved? Why did she have to be so cryptic all the time?

"No, no, but you know, candles are not safe. Especially when you sleep, so..." She said trying to peek inside the room.

"Do you want to come in?" Penelope asked with a teasing smile. "You know, make sure everything is in order?" She added playing along to Josie's lie.

"Don't mind if I do." The brunette replied stepping inside.

"I can assure you that there are no candles lit and I wasn't sleeping, not that it would've stopped you from your nightly visit, I'm assuming."

Josie looked around the room. It was foolish, she was aware, but it helped ease the tension she felt inside her chest. She just had to check that everything was normal, that there was no danger, that SHE was safe.

"Everything ok? Why aren't you sleeping?" Josie asked crossing her arms. Only after noticing Penelope's reaction, she realized she had been a bit more aggressive than she intended, but before she could apologize, the raven-haired was shrugging.

"My mind is running wild, I guess." She said nonchalantly. "The tea is helping, though, do you want some?" She offered, she was well aware of how much Josie loved her tea. They had spent uncountable evenings cuddled up in bed or on a bench under the stars while drinking the warm beverage.

"Sure, thank you." Josie replied, cautiously sitting down on a chair as far away from Penelope as possible. The dream had left her rattled and it was almost too easy to slip back into hold habits and let herself be comforted by her ex girlfriend's presence. She still wasn't sure what she was feeling. She wasn't sure how to act around Penelope and her heart was sick of it all.

"I thought you were avoiding me," Penelope said as she handed her a cup of warm and deliciously smelling tea.

"Thank you," the brunette said thankfully. "And I am, this is just to fulfill my duties." She lied again, although it was more of a joke than a committed lie that time.

"Mmh, sure," Penelope nodded.

"Ah, this is just as good as I remembered." Josie couldn't contain herself after taking a sip and Penelope smiled, secretly proud at the admission.

That was possibly the longest time they had been alone in the same room since their break up and neither of them knew exactly what to say, so they just remained in a very uncomfortable silence for a long moment.

"If you want I can give you a few teabags, so you can have it whenever you want..." The raven-haired offered awkwardly.

"Sure, thank you, that would be great. Your grandma really knows how to make tea." Josie replied quickly, falling in another uncomfortable silence right after that.

Penelope hated it. She hated the awkwardness between them. She hated what they'd become. They used to fill the silence with soft kisses and sweet touches or whispered "I live you's", they used to long for each other's company and now they dreaded it. Penelope hated it and she knew she had herself to blame for it.

She handed a few of home made teabags to the other girl without saying a word.

"Oh, thank you," Josie replied trying to finish her tea as quickly as possible to get out of that situation. In front of her was once the person who she felt most comfortable with. That was the girl who could make her spill all her problems and insecurities with just one gaze, where did that familiarity go?

"Well, thank you again for the tea and... Remember not to play with anything dangerous..." The brunette said heading for the door.

"Do you want to spend the night here?" Penelope blurted out suddenly and Josie turned around to look at her with a confused expression on her face. They couldn't stay in the same room for ten minutes without wracking their brains to find a way out and now she was asking her to spend the night in the same bed?

"I know you always need to cuddle when you have a nightmare, I'm guessing Lizzie was sleeping peacefully?" She explained with a soft smile on her lips.

"I didn't have a nightmare!" Josie replied defensively. "What makes you think I..." She stopped, because Penelope was looking at her  with that expression that said that she knew everything already. Josie swallowed her pride, it was pointless to lie. "Maybe another time." She replied opening the door. "But thank you for the offer." She added.

The raven-haired nodded with a defeated expression on her face.

"Goodnight Penelope." Josie said softly.

"Goodnight," she muttered finishing her tea.

As Josie walked back to her room, satisfied enough to see her ex girlfriend safe, all she could think about was the dream and how good it felt to hold Penelope in her arms again. The thought scared her, she should have been afraid at the idea of dying in a burning room. Yet, all her mind could focus on, was the fact that even if it was the end for her, she was at least able to feel the other girl one last time. The dream had felt so real that Josie was even able to smell the shampoo mixed with smoke on the girl's hair.

And as she crawled back in bed, just before her eyes could give in to the tiredness and shut, she found herself wishing she could go back to the dream.


	3. I've been sleepwalking

The rest of the week was harder than Josie anticipated, the nightmares kept coming back, every night. Every night she woke up panting and covered in sweat, just to turn on the other side and slip back into sleep, trying to get back and relive it all over again. As if her restless nights and her twisted mind weren't giving her enough to think about, then there was Penelope.

She seemed to be everywhere as of late. Appearing out of thin air, always somewhere Josie couldn't miss seeing her and of course, always looking incredibly beautiful.

Josie couldn't help but stare most of the times, she looked so good and she missed her so much that she almost walked over to the raven-haired to beg her to take her back. Of course that was just the lack of sleep messing with her head. A momentary laps of judgement in her otherwise spotless record on avoiding her taunting ex.

But if anyone would ask, she was sure she could blame it all on the nightmares.

If she really stopped to think about it, rationally, she could see that getting back together was a very stupid and masochistic idea, because people don't really change and she would just end up with another broken heart, right?

Right.

Definitely.

Although if they could go back in time, than maybe Josie would do something different. She would pay the girl more attention, she would ignore her sister a little more. But that was just crazy talk.

She couldn't go back in time and the break up wasn't her fault.

She had meant what her slug drunk self said: they were never getting back together. Never.

Right?

Josie was losing control, she knew that much. Her dreams had messed her up more than she was willing to admit. She was more irritable, more on edge, less collected and composed.

When she wasn't sleeping, she was daydreaming about holding the girl she loved as they died, how sick was that?

It wasn't until one particular night, when things got slightly more dangerous than usual that she realized just how bad the situation was getting.

The night started normal enough, she went to sleep wishing to see the school burning again and the recurrent dream appeared in her head. Punctual as ever. When she woke up, after becoming ashes with Penelope, there was someone standing above her, staring at her and she definitely wasn't in her bed.

She jerked away quickly, scared, until she recognized the face looking at her.

"Josie, are you ok?" Hope asked with a worried expression painted on her features.

"Ehm, yeah, yeah, I think so." She replied clearing her throat, she could still feel the smoke in her lungs. "What happened?" She asked. "Where am I?"

"I got out of the library and I saw you walking towards the fire." The girl answered pointing at the big chimney. "I called you but you couldn't hear me, I had to tackle you to the ground, you wouldn't stop!" She explained.

Josie's eyes widened, she tried to walk into the fire?!

Only then she noticed that she wasn't more than a couple of steps away from the fire.

"Have you ever sleepwalked before?" She asked before the brunette had to chance to say anything.

Josie shook her head "no", at a loss of words. She was definitely spinning out of control.

"Hey, are you sure you are ok? Do you want me to call your dad or Lizzie?" She asked.

"No! No!" The brunette was quick to reply. "That's not necessary. I'm fine, thank you." She added standing up. "I think I'm going back to bed. Thanks again, Hope."   
Josie left quickly as the other witch was still trying to make sense of what had just happened.

Josie didn't go back to bed, she couldn't.

So she wandered around the school. Sure enough she ended up in front of Penelope's room again, but this time she didn't knock. She stopped herself just in time, instead she sat down in the hallway, trying to figure a way out of her problematic sleeping pattern. Not to mention the amount of untouched feelings that were brewing inside her heart, threatening to spill out in a giant mess at any given moment.

She knew she couldn't keep it up much longer, that was for sure. No matter how good it felt to hold Penelope in her dreams, she couldn't loose control like that again, it wasn't safe, for anyone. What if next time her sleepwalking alter ego decided to make a replica of her nightmares and actually torch the place?

She couldn't risk it, but her thoughts and her problems were drowning her. She just wasn't able to solve her issues on her own.

After at least an hour of pondering all her options while sitting in the deserted hallway, Josie stood up from the hallway, having made up her mind. She walked back to her room feeling a bit lighter.

She knew there was no way she could go back to sleep, not after what had happened, so she made herself a cup of Penelope's grandma's tea and opened her laptop to find a movie.

\--*--

The morning after, Josie was out of the door before Lizzie could even wake up.

She marched through the school's hallways with purpose, so much so that she almost bumped into the girl coming down the stairs as she walked.

"Oh, sorry," she muttered quickly.

"No problem, but how are you feeling?" Hope asked putting her hands on the taller girl's shoulders to steady her. "You scared me yesterday." She admitted.

"Oh, I'm great, just a minor sleepwalking problem, nothing to worry about." She was downplaying it immensely, but Hope didn't have to know that. "Now, if you don't mind, I'm in a hurry." She added with a sweet smile, trying to walk around the tribrid.

"Hey, Jo," Hope called out as the brunette almost ran away. "Take care of yourself, ok?"

Josie nodded, touched by the words, then she kept walking towards her destination.

Knocking on that door took an incredible amount of courage and Josie almost bailed twice, before finally biting the bullet and bringing her hand up against the wooden surface.

It didn't open immediately and the few moments it took gave Josie plenty of time to seriously reconsider her decision one more time.

She was just about to turn around and leave when the door opened.

"Hi Josie, what are you doing here so early?" The woman asked.

"Hi, I'm sorry Mrs Tig, I was hoping you could squeeze me in before school started? I really don't wanna miss classes, but I think I also really need your help." The girl replied honestly and the school counselor opened the door wider to let her in with a sweet smile on her face.


	4. Love isn't all that it seems

"Josie, are you ok?" Emma asked, gently bringing the brunette back to reality.

Her courage had drastically dropped upon entering the room and in that moment she was sitting in the uncomfortable chair, a few steps away from the counselor, opening and closing her mouth with no words coming out of it. She felt like a fish. She wanted to speak, she really did, but it was like all the words wanted to come out at the same time and they all got stuck at the back of her throat.

"Josie?" Emma asked again, slightly concerned that the girl was about to collapse.

"Yeah, sorry, I'm just trying to gather my thoughts." The girl said finally snapping out of her trance.

"Oh, sure, take your time." The woman replied relieved to hear the girl say something.

"Ok," Josie said wiping her hands on her plaid skirt to get rid of the sweat. "So, I've been having nightmares lately," she started. "They all start out pretty much the same way. We are all in the garden and the school is burning," she explained, seeing the images of her dream in her head as clear as if she was watching them on a screen. "And then someone says that everyone made it out except..." The girl stopped, pondering whether to reveal the name of the girl in her dreams or not. She swallowed thickly, as Emma looked at her intently, understanding immediately her inner struggle. "Except for Penelope." She said at last and the counselor nodded understandingly, but her face didn't betray any other emotion.

"Well, anyway, I just run inside the house and I find her in her room. She is always stuck somehow and I can never get her out," she added, trying hard to contain her tears at the memories. She really should have practiced what she was going to say. The woman didn't intervene, sensing that the girl had yet to finish the story. "When I realize there's no way I can bring her to safety, I just lay next to her and hold her and then we... Well, die." Josie finished simply, shrugging as if it wasn't a big deal, but her face told a whole other story.  
"How long have you had these nightmares for?" Emma asked.

"About a week." The brunette replied wiping away the few tears that escaped her control. "But that's not the worse part, I mean, if it was just the nightmares, it would be fine." She added before the counselor could ask her any other questions.

"What else happened?"

"I never want to wake up and when I eventually do, all I want is to go back in it and do it all over again."

Emma looked definitely surprised by that admission.

"Do you think that maybe you want to go back to have another chance at saving Penelope?" She asked.

Josie shook her head, while bowing it in shame.

"No, no matter how twisted it is, I know that I can never change the outcome. I know that I can never save her and yet every night I can't wait to go back."

Ms Tig looked at her intently and then let out a soft sigh.

"Josie, I feel like there is something you are not sharing." She said. "I can't fully help you if you keep some things for yourself." The woman said firmly. "Do you know why you feel this way about your nightmares?" She asked directly.

Josie looked up at her, scared.

"No, no, I don't know. Isn't that your job?" She shot back.

"Josie, you don't have to be afraid, whatever you are feeling it's valid, you are not in any trouble." The woman reassured.

The brunette couldn't contain her tears anymore, because she did know why she was feeling like that. Of course she did, it was obvious, but she was too scared to admit it.

"I guess..." She started to say, voice hoarse, she cleared her throat and tried again. "I guess it's easier there? Because I can hold her and love her without the fear of being rejected or without having to worry about what my sister is going to say. Because I can love her and pretend that she didn't break my heart and... I just don't know, I feel like I'm losing it." She said hiding her face in her hands.

Emma scooted closer and gently pried the hands away from the young girl's face.

"Josie," she said gently. "Listen to me, whatever you are feeling it's ok, you are not going crazy. You just need to be honest with yourself. You are blocking out all these feelings and denying a big part of yourself." She said, trying to convey how toxic and unhelpful repressing her true feelings was.

"Love..." She said taking a deep breath. "Love isn't all that it seems. Real love can be messy and hurtful at times, but it doesn't make it less pure or something you should be ashamed of." The counselor spoke softly and Josie listen to every word attentively. "If you feel this intensely for Penelope, than maybe you should talk to her about it? Sort your problems together?"

"And get my heart crushed again?" She asked through teary eyes. "I can't do that." The young witch replied, her voice cracking slightly at the vulnerability laced in her words.

"Darling, anyone with two eyes can see that the girl truly cares about you," Emma added sympathetically. "I think a good and open conversation could benefit the both of you," the woman reassured.

"I don't know..." the brunette said uncertainly standing up. "I'll think about it. Thank you, Mrs Tig."

"Anytime, Josie."

The suggestion the counselor made was all Josie could think about for the rest of the day.

Those words just kept running around in her head, forbidding her to think about anything else. Preventing her from paying attention in class or to the latest drama Lizzie was venting about, forcing her to lay in bed awake way past midnight.

When the clock eventually stroke one in the morning, the girl huffed, recognizing that laying there was pointless.

She got out of the room in nothing more than an oversized jumper and grey shorts. She hoped wandering the empty hallways would give her mind some much needed peace.

It didn't.

Eventually she found herself in front of Penelope's room once again.

Head leaning against the door, debating whether to knock or not.

She closed her eyes and took a deep breath.

That was stupid, she had all day to talk to the other girl, surely she could wait a couple more hours and come back with the light of day at a more decent hour, right?

She was about to distance herself from the door when it opened and Penelope leaned against the frame, sporting one of those irresistible smiles etched on her lips, haunting her every thought.

"Thought I'd help you choose whether to talk to me or not." She said.

Of course she knew. Of course Penelope Park knew what she was thinking.

"Can I come in?" Josie asked softly and the raven-haired quickly moved to the side and motioned for her to enter.


	5. I'll stay here with you until this dream is gone

"You were right," admitted Josie sitting down, her hands clasped tightly behind her back. "The other day, when I came to check on you, I just had a nightmare." She explained further.

Penelope didn't say anything, but her expression spoke volumes, Josie knew her well enough to understand that she didn't need to hear the words to know that she was right. The girl smiled softly at her and sat next to her.

"Are you ready to tell me what it was about?" She asked gently.

Josie took a deep breath, then she told her ex girlfriend all about the recurrent dreams she had been having, all but the reason why she kept on having them.

"Well, sounds like your dream version of me had some sensible advice, you should have gotten out of there, why did you stay?" Penelope asked, but her tone didn't carry any trace of teasing or shock, just a knowing, gentle smile, as if she already knew everything and was just waiting for her to admit it. The fact that Penelope could read her so easily would have been incredibly irritating if it wasn't for the fact that it made her feel understood on a level she had never experienced before, with anyone else. Not even her twin.

Penelope waited patiently for Josie to gather her thoughts and maybe her courage too. The raven-haired reached to gently wipe away the tears that had made their way down Josie's cheeks, she held her face so that their eyes would meet.

"Josie, you don't have to be afraid with me, you can tell me everything." She reassured and Josie believed her, because she was looking at her in the same way she used to look at her when they were together. Josie suddenly remembered why she had fallen in love in the first place. The warmth emanating from her gaze, the complete adoration in those eyes, the care and openness she could see were just a few of the many reason why Penelope had her heart.

"It's the only place where I can hold you." The brunette admitted in a whisper, as a sob escaped her lips.

Penelope had tears of her own springing from her eyes and her heart couldn't take seeing Josie so broken and vulnerable. She slid closer and wrapped her arms around the taller girl immediately, holding her as she broke down.

"That's not true," she said against her hair. "I would never refuse you." She added stroking her back gently, trying to help her calm down.

"You broke up with me, I don't think my heart could take another rejection." Josie mumbled against her chest.  
"Oh, Jojo, that doesn't mean I ever stopped loving you." She admitted, distancing herself only slightly to wipe away the tears on the brunette's face once again. "I'm sorry if I ever made you feel like you weren't enough, because that's the opposite of what I think."

Josie was confused, she didn't know what any of what the girl had just told her meant, but she was too tired to discuss it in that moment. They had time. They had time to mend what they lost and broke, but Josie needed to rest more than closure in that moment.

"Does the offer still stand?" She asked, feeling the exhaustion taking over her body.

"What offer? I made plenty." Penelope replied with a hint of a smile and confusion at the sudden change of topic.

"To spend the night here." Josie muttered, embarrassed at how needy she sounded.

"Of course." The raven-haired replied trying to mask her surprise.

"Good, 'cause I think I'm about to pass out." She said laying in Penelope's bed unceremoniously, the other witch smiled and laid next to her, closing the light with a soft movement of her hand.

They remained in silence for a couple of minutes. Penelope wanted so badly to wrap her arms around the other girl, but she refrained from doing so, waiting for Josie to make the first move that time.

"So, back to the dream, were you trying to destroy some other love note? Did you accidentally cause another fire?" Penelope asked with a smirk.

Josie groaned.

"Oh, I regret telling you that story so much now." The brunette replied covering her face in embarrassment.  
Penelope laughed whole-heartedly.

"Why, your crush on Hope made so much sense..." She teased, but then her laugh died down. "Don't worry Jojo, your secrets are safe with me." She said after a moment, more seriously, as if she wouldn't dare to joke about something like that.

Josie didn't say anything to that, she could only smile brightly, feeling warm inside, knowing that the girl meant every word. Penelope couldn't see her expression in the dark, but she could definitely sense it.

"Penny," the twin whispered after a long moment of silence.

"Mmh," the girl mumbled in response, about to slip into a dreamless sleep, more relaxed than she had felt in months.

"I know that you are usually the one holding me, but just for tonight, do you mind if I...?" She asked, feeling extremely self-conscious about having to ask such a question to her ex girlfriend. She felt pathetic and childish. She should have been contented with just sharing a bed with the raven-haired, asking for more was really pushing her luck. No matter what she had said earlier, Penelope still broke her heart, putting herself out there like that was pretty much like admitting all she had been trying to deny since the break up. It was like shouting from a rooftop that there was no getting over Penelope Park.

But Penelope didn't ask her to repeat herself, thankfully, nor she teased her about her request, gracefully. She simply turned on her side, granting Josie her desire to be the big spoon in a wordless invite.

The twin was yet again overwhelmed by the warm feeling inside of her at the evidence of how effortlessly the raven-haired could read her mind.

**Author's Note:**

> Let me know what you think :)  
> Hope you liked :)


End file.
